While Eala, who trains at the Rafael Nadal Academy, has been on the ascent, Swiatek has struggled to match the blistering pace she set this time last year, when she scored 1000-level victories in Doha and Indian Wells. Though she improved on her result in Melbourne with a semifinal finish, she failed to defend either title and responded to criticism following an incident of perceived aggression towards a ball boy at the BNP Paribas Open.

“Usually, I control such impulses,” Swiatek said of her frustrations in a lengthy Instagram post, “so half-jokingly I can say I lack experience in this and misjudged my aim in the heat of the moment.”

The former world No. 1 opened up about building anxieties triggering by a positive doping test, one for which she was ultimately found to bear No Significant Fault or Negligence, pointing to the time she missed due to a provisional suspension as preventing her from better competing for the top of the WTA rankings.

Still, Swiatek performed well in Miami, reaching the quarterfinals for the first time since 2022, when she won the title to first clinch the No. 1 ranking.